Class 40 - Whistle While You Work
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Good day! :D
Holding the distinction of being the first widespread large diesel locomotive employed in Britain, the English Electric Type 4, later known as the Class 40, was an initial attempt to match the power of some of the most renowned steam engines of its era under the requirements of the Modernisation Plan, the results being somewhat unfortunate, as due to it being heavily over-engineered for its task, this class of locomotive suffered numerous early faults and design flaws that would make it something of an embarrassment for British Rail, and despite it holding a mixed reception today among enthusiasts, the Class 40s did ultimately carve out a niche for themselves in the realm of freight traffic, serving dutifully until their eventual withdrawal in the 1980s.
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References:
- The Class 40 Preservation Society (and their respective sources)
- Key Model World (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)
The final clip showing a preserved 40 being backed up by an 8F sounded brilliant. The lovely whistle of the 40 combined with a bark of the 8F which sounded like it was doing some heavy work; not a sound common on preserved railways.
feel a trip to bury in the near future
Always love the sound of steam when its being worked. Over in the US this year they finally got Big Boy 4014 to shove a stalled freight. Awesome sound and we got to find out the front engine slips first.
“Look at me go!”
Said the Diesel boastfully, then it happened (rattled coughing) the Diesel came to a stop. The driver and crew examined what’s going on just to find a top hat 🎩 inside one of its air holes. The passengers and crew laughed but the Diesel growled “GRRRRR!”
Being a kid growing up & bashing in the late 70's & early 80's with my old fella in West Yorks. I never really appreciated the whistlers as I was more into the Deltics. But as time has passed & even to this day the unique sound of the 40 has won me over, just like it did with my Dad back in the day.
Did you see D261?
I was on a Glasgow to London train in September 1963, hauled by one of these but a Royal Scot 4-6-0 replaced it at Carlisle.
Im from the United States. My fellow railfans think the class 40 is ugly, but I think its kinda cool. Double end cab and nose is a great feature. Over here we don't really have any double cabbed diesels. Thanks RM. Loved your video. Love from the USA.
you have to see one to fall in love with one , very best wishes from wigan , lancashire , once the home of the 40 s , wigan springs branch shed
I quite like the 40's actually. Not a patch on something like an E7, but the whistling sound is very unique and pronounced on these units, most other EE products having more of a growl to them. The "whistle" is almost Britain's version of the high-pitch chant of an EMD prime mover in the States
@@russellgxy2905I've managed to accidentally teach my 2.5 year old daughter that the sound of a "train" is a "whang whang whang" sound of a 710 emd engine. She makes the noise when she points at a photo of a...steam engine 🤦
@@russellgxy2905 very funny and cute lol
I think the only close similar example would be the GG1s, but those are electric
I used to drift off to sleep as a kid listening to 40s 24s and 25s been thrashed up the grade from Crewe to Stoke .Happy days just the odd 66 now with its mankey 2 stroke whine.
really enjoyed that , thank you , i have the hand brake wheel off 40 143 , all the best from wigan , lancs , 40 country
As a trainspotter and enthusiast of 1970s vintage I was really enthralled by this film, thank you. A few times I was on a train hauled by a 40 and the guard came along apologising for the lack of train heating, the reasons well explained in this film. Having said that, I became an "expert" in explaining to fellow passengers steam heating/electric heating and air brakes/vacuum brakes in an era when Nerds was an un-known word. Now electric multiple units are failed because the driver can't input the right diagnostics into the train's computer! Nothing changes, only the technology and terminology.
I saw three locos so far and d213 and 40145 are the locos I see on the mainline as for 40106 I see that loco on the Severn valley railway
I think a video explaining head codes (?) and bogey configurations would be very interesting, as you mentioned these in this video and has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Great video as always, thanks. 😊
Bogie configs are fairly simple. Bo-Bo meaning 2 driven axles per bogie, Co-Co meaning 3 etc…
I’ve included some diagrams of the setups you will encounter
on UK stock, with an o being an undriven axle and O being a driven one:
Bo-Bo: OO OO
Co-Co: OOO OOO
A1A: OoO OoO
1Co-Co1: oOOO OOOo
Hope this helps a bit
@@aarphotos5 ah thanks, I'm not sure why I thought that would need a full length video to explain. 😊
@@MattBrownbill No problem 🙂. I do agree a video on headcodes would be interesting though, they seem more complex
To briefly explain headcodes (I have left some bits out) - before the 4-character ones, discs were used to tell the signalmen what TYPE of train it was (Express, Goods, Light Engine etc), or the ROUTE it was taking, with the arrangement of the discs referring to the different types/routes. Then, linked to the introducion of a system called TOPS (Train Operations Processing System) in the 1960s, each train received a 4 character Train Reporting Number (though still refered to as a Headcode), which was displayed on the front of the train, as follows:
A number to indicate the CLASS of service (1 = Main Line, 2 = Secondary up to 0 = Light Engine
A letter to indicate the REGION it's going to (E = Eastern, M = Midland, for instance)
Two numbers for the individual journey.
Because of the number of trains in service, more than one service can use the same code, so long as they're not running at the same time - hope that helps.
@@aarphotos5 and to translate this to North American verbiage, Bo-Bo is B-B, Co-Co is C-C, etc etc.
The 40's on Express duty were not so hot, but on cross-country passenger and freight, they were hard to beat. 😅
Brilliañt video. Well researched and well presented. Keep them coming. Many thanks.
I love these things, this video made me.
I wanna learn more about British diesel traction now. And freight operations.
Oh that beautiful noise
yes yes yes
Opening scene and in the background there's a 37 pulling an HST !
The original classification of them was, of course, class C. The type 1 to 5 classifications coming later.
Mute testimony to the modernisation was the preponderance of the relatively low powered type B's, not really forward looking.
On a different note; it's interesting the power to weight consternation. Think about (admittedly earlier) EMD E7, roughly the same weight and power, or the bit lighter but lesser powered F7. I'm not really aware of the railroads being concerned with power deficiency, just lashing them together.
Maybe just different practices.
Bit like the V200's, DB's practices being lightweight trains hauled by higher powered units, typically using 75% of power 100% of the time, BR practice using 100% of power 75% of the time. Train sizes could be larger per unit, but reliability and availability suffering as a consequence.
It's a shame 40 126 (previously D326)wasn't preserved, the only reason no-one wanted to take it on was because people believed it was cursed. From the great train robbery, a 2nd man getting electrocuted and another accident in Birmingham New Street station when a guard got injured, hence the reason a lot of people believed it was cursed and no-one wanted to take private ownership. 😬☠️
Last seen awaiting its fate outside Donny works, cut into small pieces just to make sure in 1984.
Many railwaymen past and present feel strongly the media notoriety attached to the Great Train Robbery as distasteful and disrespectful to the life changing injuries and trauma given to Jack Mills and Dave Whitby by the thugs. I believe the NRM were aware of this.
Fairly sure I read once that British Rail didn't want it to be preserved so it didn't end up a ghoulish memorial so made sure it couldn't be purchased and scrapped it as soon as.
The wheels still exist and are under the tender of Merchant Navy 35006.
Not really a shame - BR wouldn't have sold it anyway given its history.
I don't know why the Class 40 is one of my favs, i just like it and there engine sound is distinct, i like diesels with distinct engine sounds
Whenever I look at a new upload by Ruairidh, I think to myself "yes I will watch this"
We have recently discovered a photograph of my Grandfather driving D213 Andania in the mid 60’s, he was a driver out of Bank Hall depot in Liverpool and ended his long career as a steam driver with a short stint on the 40’s, delighted to have seen this video which gives us some great background on the locos. We’ve recently learned that Andania is now part of the fleet run by Locomotive Services and does sterling work on heritage and rescue runs.
The class 40 was under power for its size and weight. You have to remember that about 300 hp. Is lost in the transmission from engine to wheels. But that 16 cylinder engine was developed into more powerful versions. The class 50 had the same design of engine, and was rated at 2700 hp. The class 56 also shared the same engine block design and was rated at 3250 hp.
Great video as always. Would love to see a video on the 37s or 20s if you have that planned.
I believe that the early type 4s were sabotaged by disgruntled drivers & maintenance sheds, history shows us, especially when the railways are concerned that change & modernisation has always been met with heavy resistance.
19:23, Bruh, hear the horn on that Diesel. Sounds like a Goose honking.
Lots of footage of D208, the first loco I ever work on as a 15 year old apprentice fitter straight out of school. The valves had had an augment with the pistons. Still remember that 59 years later. Thanks for the content!
When the con rods go a bit Elton John 😉
The class 40 is imo the most beautiful British diesel.
With that said it is funny looking at a British diesel from the late 50s/early 60s compared to an American one.
But then again the US wasn't bombed during WWII
It’s ashamed that the prototypes nos. D201-D209 were not preserved after their withdrawal from BR service.
They really do produce a beautiful "whistling" sound. I'm glad we got this one in TSW, they're great to drive.. although you do notice they're underpowered for their weight (and the freight trains).
Rubbish early diesels are so much fun, you have to drive them like you stole them to keep time. I'm well on my way to completing all the timetables for the 40 and 31.
@@madduckuk I take it you're a driver, or ex-driver. It's good to see first-hand comments on the thread.
@@wirebrushofenlightenment1545no, and whatever metric your using is broken.
@@madduckuk I said nothing to antagonize you - GFYS
Oh that’s what also annoys me. It just struggles to get over those bloody Pennines, it’s one of the greatest routes in the whole game though
I am still amazed that BR considered the underpowered Type 4 as a suitable replacement for Gresley Pacifics. The 2000hp rating would translate to about 1700hp at the rail. The smaller EE Type 3, which became Class 37, rated at 1750hp, was considered as a direct replacement for an LMS 8F. So a type 4, with a 16 cylinder engine rather than the 12 of the Type 3, was probably no more powerful than a LMS Jubilee, which had a similar boiler to the 8F and Black 5, but had three cylinders.
It was a similar story on the Western Region, which chose locomotives with a completely different diesel hydraulic transmission. The Warships, roughly the same power output as the Type 4, were quite quickly supplanted by the much more powerful Westerns.
Fotunate to volunteer on a heritage railway that hosts a class 40 - lovely sound and popular with visitors.
Overly negative view of the best-looking and maybe the best-sounding BR diesel-electric loco and which in power terms is a design from 1954. It's a great shame that D322 was scrapped before renumbering otherwise 200 would have become 40 200. Comparing the 1Co-Co1 EE Type 4 and Peaks is like comparing day and night.
Question, if the Class 40's were underpowered, why didn't BR just double head them to maintain the schedule? That would be preferable to attaching a steam unit to help. Didn't they have functioning MU capability?
Although my favourite diesel they were pretty useless doing what they were built for, a steam locomotive could keep better time on an express. Once they were settled in on hauling secondary semi fast and heavy freight they became well liked and were reliable. EE did the best they could at the time they were built but as seen with the smaller less powerful class 37 it has more tractive effort than the 40. If BR had stuck to the plan of building 10 for assessment we could of ended up with many more class 37's instead. There seemed to be no real co ordination in BR, when the first diesels were built they were still building steam locos the diesels were to replace and planning on closing many lines the diesels were being built to run on a total shambles but it did thankfully give us a very large variety of traction and for me the EE Type 4 was the most impressive of them. it's huge bulk and lovely sound still in my memory from the first day I saw one. Happy to see a few preserved unlike my favourite train which were all scrapped
They we’re about 1600 hp at the rail which made them barely the equivalent of a coronation or p royal They would have done better out of Pancras replacing jubs and black 5s. That would have been a real noticeable improvement.
@@highdownmartin They probably would yes Out of Euston on a 14 to 16 coach express was just too much for them and going up Beattock in a book I have the driver of a Britannia said 'If this was a type 4 we would be down to 15mph' as they topped the summit at 25
@@cedarcam that’s why the next lot were the brushes at 2750 and westerns at 2700. On top of the job not just about able
spot on comment
Class 40 Whistlers and Blue Pullman sets- West Coast Mainline
Class 55 Deltics and HSTs- East Coast Mainline
Class 52 Westerns- Great Western Mainline
Class 35 Hymeks and Class 42 Warships- South West Mainline
I like this these films but most clips are not relevant to what your saying. when your explaining the train classes, type 4 you showed a steam train. Type one shows a class 31 ect
I took the train from Hereford to Shrewsbury in 1998 and it wasn't the normal one. It had old carriages and a big old diesel at the front. Now was it one of these? There were groups of people on route waving the train on during the trip, it was slightly bizarre but interesting.And just out of interest I used to use trains in the UK in the 1980's so often , one went to the station and bought a ticket on the train even on runs between Chirk and Shrewsbury/ London. Nowadays my last train trip in SE France was from Avignon to Paris (and then on to London) in 2014. A great trip, but somehow taking the train has sort of left my lifestyle.
Class 40 bashers were a unique breed though!
Another great commentary &video from you. The Class 40 Diesels were in my view the smartest looking and most audibly impressive of all the 1st generation B.R Diesels. I saw them in service in my home city of Carlisle in use traversing the Freight avoiding Lines in the area of what was known as Bog Junction , the years were 1981 / 82, I remember the m hauling Block / Cocentrated Loads of 27 T wagons with INGOT MOULD letterin stenciled/ sand blasted wording on side of wagon. and block loads of scrap metal trains.
Wish now I had visited that area more often and or that i had got a video cam footage of this stretch of Carlisle as most of the railway here was dismantled after 1984. P.S i think you have been, just a little harsh regards their haulage capabilities
Electrical equipment motors, generators and control gear was manufactured at English Electric Strand road east works, diesel engines were produce in Strand road west works ( Preston ). When I started my apprenticeship in 1953 ( to 1959 )at EE Preston, Deltics switch gear was being assembled but went under the name Enterprise and was considered a fill in job when there was little work on. Possibly of interest, loco's were built at Strand road but for overseas as I remember, hope this is of interest.
Did these locos work mostly on the trans pennine routes (Liverpool to Newcastle and Manchester to Scarborough) in their latter years or am I imagining it?
Sort of. They were pretty common from about 1961 to 1975 on the Trans Pennine route, and would often run the odd Trans Pennine train in the summer almost to the end of their lives.
I'd personally argue that the Deltics cab mimicked the look of GM F-Units and Alco PA's more than the Class 40s did...
My fave locos, just like me, overweight and underpowered! 🤣 Great presentation, Ruairidh, thanks.
That made oi larf!
That's makes me a class 37 been around for a long time still in service (I am 33 and still Skating) every thing street ramp pool ect
Great subject. Great title.
I lived my whole life 1958-1967, as a fanatic trainspotter, alongside the ECML at Hitchin. NEVER ONCE did I ever see a Class40 being in need of help from a steam locomotive. Your accusations are ungrounded and spiteful, Ruairidh. Shame on you. (Nor does your footage show a Class40 struggling).
Class 37 dragging an HST at 0:23
My favourite locos when I was a little un.
These Type4's were hardly ever allocated to the Master Cutler. This duty was performed by Type3's (Class37's) and Brush Bo-Bo's.
No mention of D305/40106 having never carried Blue and has always been Green. Slightly disappointing.
STOP IT, DUDE!!!!! JUST STOP!!!!! You've already won the world's "Longest ever sentence in a commentary of a TH-cam video" !!!!! Can you not break up some of your sentences with full-stops, or at least a semi-colon or two ???>??? PLEASE
Excellent video. Thank you. I still recall the first time I saw a double headed 40 hauled train at Swindon back in October 1977. 40081 and 40084 if my memory serves me correctly.
Good video with some great shots!
5:32 Not my favourite engine, but I do wish people would stop trotting out they were overweight as if it mattered so much. Yes they were heavy, but only some 14 tons heavier than a Class 47. Didn't the Class 45/46's weigh around 132 tons?
In short if they had one of their engines installed (if they were available at that time) and their gearing, then you probably wouldn't have noticed
They were locomotives of that moment in time
D200 worked the Settle-Carlisle in early to mid 80s. I remember a couple of trips when I was a kid. Mark I corridor stock.
Would all eight axles being powered, or a Do-Do wheel arrangement have helped then at all? Seeing as the Class 28's had good tractive effort from their five axles.
Ruairidh that is an interesting coach immediately behind the locomotive at timestop 2:35 with bulged ducket and higher roof line. Do you have any idea what it is?
Dynamometer car
These things definitely got better off than 46 009
2:23 This LMS Diesel Locomotive No.10000 And LMS Princess Coronation Pacific Express Steam Locomotive No.6256 Sir William A Stanier FRS Are A Bit Like BoCo The Diesel Engine And Gordon The Big Engine From Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends The Original Series In 1984. Thanks Mate. X
40106 was our celeb loco on the Birkenhead to Chester line. It was also the loco that I had my first cab ride in. Glad to see that she is being well looked after!
A review of those Romanian built class 56's would be appreciated. Given the time period, how did it happen, and why?
That's easy. By the time that Brush Electrical Machines signed the contract to build the Class 56 they were already an agreement with the Romanian State Railway to develop a medium to high powered diesel-electric freight locomotive. This meant that much of the pre-design work had already been completed by the time Brush's tender had been accepted. When the first order for the Class 56 was placed in September 1974 the first 60 were to be built by Brush using one of the BREL workshops, but capacity limitations meant that the first 30 were built at the Electroputere Works in Craiova, Romania. One contract stipulation that allowed the building was that a significant number of components had to made in the UK. The bogies for the first 60 locomotives were all made by ICM Reistia.
The first Romanian built locomotives started to arrive in early August 1976 but did not enter testing until late September 1976 and service until early February 1977. Due to a long list of faults including electrical conduits with sharp edges that stripped the insulation from the cabling and suspension spring that allowed locomotives to bottom out on their framing. The bogies had high stress concentrations which lead to fractures forming; this was discovered in early 1977. The litany of faults made it take around 6 months to get the Romanian-built locomotives into service.
By May 1977 the first Doncaster built example was delivered.
What a machine!! Best EE loco.
Newton-Le-Willows is a proud Lancashire town, it maybe 'reluctantly' part of Merseyside now officially but when the English Electric workers built the Class 40 they were proud Lancastrians.
The googly eyes on that train in the thumbnail are a little off center. :D
"Look at me, Duck and Stepney. Now I'll show you something."
He rolled proudly forward to his coaches. *Moves foward* Then… it happened *Engine splutters and stops*
Rolls forward then stalls because the inspector's hat got sucked into his air intake.
Narrator: Meanwhile the inspector was looking for his hat
@@engie809 "The Diesel seethed with fury as Duck and Stepney pushed him back to the Shed."
“My hat!” Cried the inspector. “You’ve sucked it into your air intake!”
T4s were great. They badly needed re-engining, which never happened.
Used to watch them hauling timber - vast trains of timber - in the border lands near Carlisle. The sound was something else!
Another typically high quality and fascinating video. Bravo
This futuristic design must have inspired the Sukhoi T-4. What an amazing time to be alive!
Thank you Ruairidh for another well researched and informative video.
Did most of the Class 40s got scrapped at Brighton, Eastleigh and Ashford Works?
A case or two of tight deadlines causing more problems than they solved.
I love these videos as it explains all of the things you read on Wikipedia in detail, as well as adding extra information which would be hard to find elsewhere.
12:16 spot the supervisor :D
Went on a steam tour last weekend that was steam hauled from Taunton to Dartmouth & back. I was surprised that the Crewe to Taunton leg was hauled by an immaculate class 40, number D213. The tour had a supporting diesel on the back all day, with the 40 hanging out at Taunton whilst a B1 (Mayflower) took care of the scenic bit. The 40 actually managed to recover some late running on the home leg. She was sat at 84mph (GPS) for long stretches on the way home with 12 on. We disembarked at Worcester Parkway. The reserve loco on the back wasn't pushing when she set off again, the 40 was roaring to get the train underway again.
Forgotten by whom? The most 3 popular locos with cranks were always deltics, westerns and 40s.
An excellent documentary as always, thank you.
Not bad, I’ve seen worse. At least your all…clean.
I sometimes mistake the 40s for 37s because of their bodyshell shape
Crikey.......so many inaccuracies...😅
Which ones?
Excellent video, thank you Ruairidh.
As a spotter watched them take over most steam duties from Crewe to the north and from Manchester. They did struggle up Shap and Beattock but coming downhill were a splendid sight.
On Liverpool - Newcastle trains, if a 45/46 was unavailable, a pair of 40s was used especially on Fridays and Saturdays.
As one came into the old Manchester Exchange the whistle sound was distinctive and produced an echo.
To be honest I’d rather have 40126 then D200
90 miles /h is quite good speed for a 2000 hp 136 ton loco with 500 ton train if I got it right. I know a 1900 hp 120 ton loco which just did 75 miles/h with 250 ton train. Naturally this is not great performance today but back then...both designed 1959 or so.
Oh the irony! A diesel hauled train being banked by a steam locomotive! 🤣
Great presentation, as always! I seem to remember D336 40 126 also had a train crew killed when climbing up onto the roof being electrocuted by the 25kv overhead wires! This Locomotive would have been a major exhibit at the national collection these days ! But in times gone by, the decent thing was done,I suppose?
Baby Deltics were never used to reolace Type4's. Their sole ECML duty was on KingsX-Cambridge trains.
Yes it was an amazing start of the 1955 experimentations with 200 off class 40 at 2000Hp built and 127 of the class 45 at 2500Hp. Love the look of the engines, just wonder how many millions of miles when all combined they clocked up. Great you mention the fact that steam had to fulfill some of the intended diesel engine failures and shortfalls (e.g. steam heating). Seems we are repeating history as all this pushing of pure EV is the solution being forced on everyone as road transport EV weaknesses are surfacing. So much hype, particularly battery failures, reliability, deterioration over time and lack of performance in cold weather, lack of range, time to refuel etc. Then we have ICE vehicles having to tow them away, replace them where they simply cannot perform and warm up the EV passengers when stranded. Ironic isn’t it. I wonder where we will be in 30 years time with our car and truck power units and what will win through. I just await a repeat of Beeching’s “The Reshaping of British Railways”; perhaps “The Reshaping of British Road Transport” - the railways revenge?
I really wished that D201, D202, D203, D204, D205, D206, D207, D208, and D209 were all preserved alongside their classmate prototype D200
Great video I really like um Great stuff.👍👍👍👍👍
I have a memory from many years ago when I was commuting in to Liverpool Street Station, the train I was on had left Stratford, of a goods train passing under the line on another line running North/South and it seems to me that the locomotive was an open cab diesel. Was that possible? I could have been half asleep! This was a long time before the DLR and London Overground and the line that I saw this train on no longer exists. I think that it is now a road.
Its always good when you get to see inside these locos, especially when you get to look at the powerplants.
Wasn't there a duff, sorry class 47 that was considered so jinxed that BR renumbered it and it still suffered. So it was given a different identity again?
I actually saw D200 at the NRM on Wednesday sitting in the spot I could have seen Scotsman in
Engines like DP2 really showed up the 40s as overweight and underpowered, but alas the Modernisation Plan was, apart from the 08s and 37s, mostly, an unmitigated, poorly thought out, disaster. BR didn’t invest in more locos like Falcon or DP2 and such excellent prototype designs met their untimely end.
What our presenter never mentioned was that EE offered to fit the same intercooler engine as used on DP2 and the Class 50s into the Class 40, but BR declined this offer. It would have increased their power to around 2,300hp.
Was the Class 40 locomotive very reliable since it was built. Those locomotives are still one of the best trains. Is there still a Class 40 locomotive in operation in this era. Or have they all gone and been scrapped.
None in revenue earning service, but a few have been preserved and run on heritage railways. I think 40122 is mainline certified but I could be wrong.
My mother remembers travelling on these old heaps from Holyhead.
Good enough for the Irish.
Great video
It would have been better if we had nine prototypes of the Class 40s in preservation
I woke up to do something
I have no regret and now I get to watch a new of ruair documentary’s
Never witnessed seeing an upload of your’s this early. 😊
Are you and the YT channel Matthew Poxon connected?
Based on my observations from the past few weeks, you both post videos (usually) around the same time and have content on vehicles.
Update: just received a reply from Matthew Poxon himself. You two are not connected.
hi there, great video, have always thought these locos were underpowered,why the clowns didnt put a bigger engine i dont know, even the LMS twins had lawn mower engines in ,thats why they were doubled up most of the time.some one has been acting the goat all along. but loved the 302 unit at liverpool st station in the clip
I think it's interesting that the LMS prototypes were six-axle, 1600hp (net hp - 1750hp gross) machines, as planned by Ivatt and Fox. When first drawing up the use-case for the diesels, Fairburn had used existing LMS running data to peg the needed horsepower at 1600hp from one unit - this would equal a 'Black Five' when running singly and (at 3200hp) be equivalent to a 'Duchess' when working together in multiple. Somehow, between the translation from LMS to BR, the specification was changed to needing eight axles and only 2000hp in one unit to take the place of an 8P-class steam locomotive on express services. I'm fairly sure that even the rating of the engine was fairly unadventurous, and by 1958 English Electric could get the 16SVT to produce more than 2000hp at the crank in rail service.
Why BR had different expectations I don't know. I've read rumours about the data from the Rugby Testing Station being flawed by measuring the wrong thing - steam loco's maximum continuous power output, when in fact they could (unlike a diesel) produce significantly more than that for short periods by trading steam pressure and water level for power output and by 'overworking' the fireman. And the BR civil engineers must have been more wary of high-speed all-powered bogies than their LMS predecessors to insist on the Type 4s having Bulleid-style leading/trailing axles.
Interestingly, the overall experience proved Fairburn and Ivatt right - 2000hp wasn't enough to properly replace the largest Pacific steam locos in express service, let alone reliably accelerate the timings. As DP1 proved, you needed at least 3000hp for that (as per the LMS Twins running together), while BR wouldn't get its 'go anywhere, do anything' mixed traffic diesel loco equivalent of the Black Five until the EE Type 3 with the same horsepower as the LMS units, but now from a V12 prime mover not a V16.
And all of this trouble could have been avoided if the English just swallowed their pride and bought an American EMD or GE power plant and then took the time to produce their own reliable engines
EE was up to standard. However US GE had superior control systems and when matched to the ALCO 251 would make a very fuel efficient loco in hard service.